Males of Vgchartz: Why are you afraid of using the urinal?

[Dodece]

@spurgeonryan

The dangers of the toilet seat are purely a urban myth. Perpetuated by industries that feed on irrational fears to get consumers to buy their products. I know it may sound absurd, but the average toilet seat is far more dangerous to your average microbe then it is to you. You can actually eat off the toilet seat in a public restroom, or lick the top of it all day long, and chances are you will not get sick. Hands are the vector for diseases, and they almost never touch the top of a toilet seat.

In a supreme irony the urinal is actually less sanitary. Even if it is self flushing. What do a lot of people do when they use a urinal. They rest their hands on the wall, or on top of the urinal itself. Often in the same place where people before them placed their hands, add in the fact that people sneeze, cough, and breath heavy in that area, and you got yourself a prime breeding location. Granted if you wash your hands afterwards it shouldn't really matter.

The absolute worst culprit in the restroom, and the one most people forget about is the door handle at the exist. None of your precautions mean a damn if you touch that thing. I always laugh to myself about the people who diligently wash their hands. Only to walk over, and grab that thing bare handed. People forget that a lot of people are thoughtless, or just plain slothful, and don't wash their hands before they leave the restroom. That thing is literally coated in snot, saliva, shit, and not just from one donor, but hundreds if not thousands. If anything in the restroom is going to make you sick it is that thing.

The greatest health precaution you can take in a public restroom is to use a paper towel, or a piece of toilet paper as a barrier between your hand and that object. Who here would like to confess to not doing that as a matter of habit. I know saying this makes me sound like a public health announcement, but I look at it like I am banking some karma. If I keep one person in this thread from getting sick it was worth it for me.